Constant and continuous blood glucose monitoring is a key practice for the proper surveillance and management of diabetes therapy. Self-monitoring of blood glucose is mainly carried out using small electronic devices (glucometers) that quickly analyse blood glucose values on small amounts of blood. Given the steady increase in the number of people with diabetes and hyperglycaemia, the development of innovative systems that can be fast, compact, flexible, wearable, and capable of working without the analysis of small amounts of blood is in constant development.

This is the background to the study published in the journal NPG Asia Materials - Nature by researchers of the Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies at Sapienza University, in collaboration with the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and other international organisations.

The research team developed a biosensor for measuring glucose concentrations in urine using a successful combination of multilayer polymers (hydrogels) and silver nanoparticles: this multilayer structure (housing nano-reflectors with cubic geometry) was inspired by the natural nanostructured organisation found in chameleon skin.

"The study," says Luciano De Sio of Sapienza University, "showed that the biosensor can monitor very low glucose concentrations with a lower detection limit than currently available devices."

In addition to being flexible, the proposed device has both antibacterial and photo-thermal properties thanks to silver nanoparticles: the use of light radiation produces significant temperature changes that make the device sterilisable and reusable.

"The next steps – explains Antonella Calogero - will be to exploit the enormous versatility of the device by adding appropriate biochemical functionalisation that allows the biosensor to be used in other fields of application, such as the monitoring of tumour markers or the specific recognition of antibodies such as, for example, those developed following infection with SARS-CoV-2."

In addition, it will be possible to create wearable biosensors for multiple monitoring of analytes of medical interest, even in microgravity conditions. 

References:

Y. Ziai, F. Petronella, C. Rinoldi, P. Nakielski, A. Zakrzewska, T. A. Kowalewski, W. Augustyniak, X. Li, A. Calogero, I. Sabała, B. Ding, L. De Sio,* and F. Pierini* Chameleon-inspired multifunctional plasmonic nanoplatforms for biosensing applications. NPG Asia Mater 14, 18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41427-022-00365-9

Further Information

Antonella Calogero
Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies
antonella.calogero@uniroma1.it

Luciano De Sio
Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies
luciano.desio@uniroma1.it